Seamless electronic mail capture with user awareness and consent

Abstract

The present invention provides employees and / or associates the opportunity to share corporate knowledge via the storage of electronic message (email) with user awareness and consent features. In various embodiments of the invention, awareness and consent over email sharing is provided via automated message modification and message generation. In one embodiment of the invention, the granted sharing permissions are communicated to all original message recipients and authors to enhance awareness of sharing decisions made by individual employees. All employees who are allowed to access the shared content according to the sharing privileges can subsequently find or discover content via full-text searches or other means, such as content-based recommendations.

Description

PRIORITY CLAIM[0001]This application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. 119(e) to U.S. Provisional Application No. 60 / 799,820, filed May 12, 2006, entitled SEAMLESS ELECTRONIC MAIL CAPTURE WITH USER AWARENESS AND CONSENT, which application is incorporated herein by reference.FIELD OF THE INVENTION[0002]This invention involves intercepting electronic messages to allow a copy to be stored and shared within an employment group or other association to allow access to shared content, embedded links and attached files via full-text searches or just-in-time recommendations.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0003]Employees of any organization commonly exchange valuable information via electronic mail (email). For example, employees may discuss ideas, ask and answer questions, comment on corporate activities, or share and discuss documents. The vast majority of these messages are sent to individuals or small groups of recipients.[0004]A short recipient list does not necessarily mean that the message c...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0006]In various embodiments of the invention, methods of seamless electronic mail capture with user awareness and consent allow a group of employees and / or associates to engage in knowledge sharing via email. In an embodiment of the invention, storage and access of stored emails including automated sharing advice, notifications and replies based on content, can facilitate email sharing. It is noted, that the term ‘based on’ as used herein, means ‘based at least in part on’, unless otherwise specified. In an embodiment of the invention, the email sharing is carried out by allowing users to express email-sharing permissions, which are subsequently used to share email content on-demand. In a further embodiment of the invention, the granted permissions are communicated to all original message recipients and authors to enhance awareness of sharing decisions made by individual employees. In an embodiment of the invention, this is accomplished through email author's express sharing permissions via labeling messages before they are sent. In an embodiment of the invention, the email server intercepts labeled messages before they reach any recipients. In an embodiment of the invention, the email server modifies the body of the message to indicate the sharing activity to all recipients and provides recipients with a means for modifying the shared content or associated access privileges. In an embodiment of the invention, the proposed system stores and indexes the shared message, along with embedded and linked content. In an embodiment of the invention, all employees who are allowed to access the shared content according to the sharing privileges can subsequently find or discover content.

Problems solved by technology

However, for privacy reasons, making email globally accessible or searchable is clearly not a viable approach to corporate knowledge sharing.

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